To HUD or not to HUD?

I'm currently grinding out hands in micro limit holdem, playing on Pokerstars, with the ultimate goal of advancing through the no limit blinds to a point where I can make an extra income to supplement my main income. I have a good business and earn a good living from it, and I don't need the extra money, so it's fair to say that I'm also playing because I find poker a fun way to spend time.

I've played about 1,000 hands so far in the micro limits (currently on $0.05/$0.10 limit holdem), am reading through Harrington on Cash Games V1, and, so far at least, I'm comfortably winning a few $ every time I play.

I'm toying with the idea of getting a HUD, but wonder whether this will distract me from developing my game....currently I have to watch very carefully what the other players are doing and make a judgement about them when playing my hand....will a HUD just make this to easy, and would it ultimately make me a poor reader of players simply because I won't practice enough?

Finally, if the right thing to do is to get a HUD, which one should I go for. I don't mind paying for it.

a hud comes in handy when multi-tabling. if you are only playing one or 2 games i wouldnt really worry about a hud. i would still invest in the program so that u can track your plays and see where your biggest leaks are. i only use my hud with 4 or more tables other than that i donts use my hud. i would recommend holdem manager which i use but also poker tracker 3 is very good as well. so its up 2 u. you can download a free trial of both and see which one u like the most. well thats my .02 i hope i could help.

A HUD will do the exact opposite IMO, you will be able to spot not only opponents weaknesses but also your own when you have a sufficient amount of hands under your belt.

Pokertracker 3 and Holdem Manager are excellent but I prefer Holdem manager and have tried out both. I suggest you try out both and see which one you prefer GL with it and yes you will have to pay but not until the trial period ends obviously GL man and join the microstakes regs thread which can be found in the poker learning section

I am currently trialling Poker Tracker 3, and find that I turn the HUD off more than I have it on. It seems to get in the way of my navigation of the site and as far as I can tell, I cannot move the HUD stats around. So unless I want to skip pressing the check button (or whatever button is in the way), I cannot do it (THe HUD expands if you click in the right spot to bring up a bigger menu. That then also covers the button you need. Unless you stop the HUD, or resize your window to a size where they no longer overlap, you are not able ot use those buttons).

I have also found that Poker Tracker 3 does a very poor job of lining up the stats under the persons name. So if you are trying to scan it quickly, you may be looking at the wrong stats for the wrong person unless you make sure you note the name above the stats (they line up 1 set of stats under each players details, but they are often out of sync making them actually show up 2 or 3 players off, but still lined up so everyone has stats under them).

I am looking forward to my trial period running out so I can give Hold em manager a try.

I have the same problem while using the Poker Tracker 3 HUD on FullTilt. Whenever I start the HUD it never puts the player's name in the correct spots and it always seems to get in the way. Contrary to what the previous poster stated, you CAN move these names around. You simply have to right click on the name and you can drag it over to where the player is actually sitting. But even with this I feel that it clutters up the screen.

I've never played the micro stakes, but at .25/.50 I sometimes use the HUD from PT and filter it to only display for players that I have more than 100 hand history on so that I can get accurate stats. I feel that <100 hands just ends up distracting me, because the player may have had a bad/good run of cards and it messed up his stats.

Furthermore, I too will be trying hold 'em manager in about 7 or 8 days when my PT trial runs out. I've heard that hold 'em manager is better for cash games and PT is better for sng/tournaments? Thats just what I remember reading from a different thread.

To get to your actual question, if you're only playing a few tables (<4) I would suggest not using a HUD so that you can learn how to read players without it. Once you move up into the high levels (again from what I've read) it seems like almost all players have a HUD up and running at all times, so you will have to learn how to read it. At low stakes I don't think it will be as effective, because you have lots of players that jump tables and the players at low levels seem to have very erratic(sp?) play that the HUD won't help you with.

This may have been a bunch of jibberish as thoughts were popping into my head left and right, but I hope it helped a bit. So far I've tried to play without it, but I know that one day I will have to figure out how to use it properly. For now I just use it to keep track of my bankroll and I throw it up once in a while to make a note on the regular players as to what their stats are.

Information is gold in poker. In live play, players do anything they can to see a hand from an opponent so they can process the information in their mind.

The HUD is full of information. You should never have it off. Why would you throw away valuable information (unless your HUD is messing you up for some technical reason)?

The same reason I try and catch chat while I am playing....some players give away valuable info with their chat.

My strong opinion is you will do much better if you keep track of all available information that is possible during any poker game.

I think you should trial both HUDs suggested here.
Also, read a few tutorials on how to use it efficiently, since there's lots and lots of info available which you need to read correctly in order for the hud to be effective.

so you are talking about these programs that sound like they track what players weaknesses are? Where do I find these programs, what is the typical cost, and tell me a little about what they really do.

You can edit the hud so that the stats apear differently and so clutter up the screen less.

You can also save a layout once you have moved the stats exactly where you want them on the screen. No need to move them every time if you save the layout!

I think the usability of PT3 lets it down a bit here. All of the options are there to make these adgustments.. and more, you can configure PT3 in pretty much any way to do pretty much anything, but you have to sit down and actually figure out how to do that. Right now HEM is easier in this respect, apparently HUD configuration in PT3 should be reworked in the next big update.

Wow, I've never heard so many people bitch about something as much as this. If you arn't using a Hud you are only hurting yourself. It's a very powerful tool if you learn how to use it. If you don't know how to use it, go to the website and learn the software. Or search this forum for PT3 and HEM instructions. I use PT3 and it lines up right where it needs to every time on all the sites I play. Learn the software before you complain about it not working. The software works fine, the user just needs to learn how to use it.


Attached a screen shot of my hud. I don't see any clutter, do you?

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Hud on Full Tilt

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What's all that stuff mean?

Beginners Guide to a HUD

That should get you started

@OP: For the micros honestly I wouldnt spend the money on one to start. I read some online guides by reputable people, followed a basic strategy without getting tricky, and built up some funds. When my poker BR could afford for me to get a HUD program, I bought it.

Gave me alot better idea of reading opponents as well, plus it makes life easier to transition to playing with a hud while not becoming robotic in style.

^^^^

Thank you, this helped plenty.

If you were the most fastiious record keeper ever in poker, you would either memorize or write down ever single fact you could about every single hand from every table you sit at. Facts only, not supposition.

Both PT3, and HEM do that work for you. Nothing more. They save those facts, and allow you to gather them over time (some players will have millions of individual hands in their database), and then look at the collection of facts in a more systematic way. You can find things like how stupid it seems that you play 72 offsuit strong from under the gun because you HAVE NEVER WON A HAND DOING THAT!!!!

While that is an extreme, the presentation of the cold hard facts can offer you subtle clues on how poorly you play, or how poorly your opponents play. Situations recur in poker, and both of these products give you record keeping for how things tend to work in those, and many many other situations.

They also help you keep track, in a more systematic way, of what is happening to your bankroll.

Neither, to the best of my knowledge, can tell you if your opponents are ugly, or snot leaks out their noses when they bluff.